Where
did the custom of crucifixes, crosses, and wearing jewelry of crosses
originate? Does
it trace back to earlyChristians and the stake upon which
Christ was crucified? Or
does its origin go much further back into ancient pagan customs of the
heathen? The
true origin of the “cross” is shocking, and stunning, in actual fact! The actual history of
this ancient pagan symbol will amaze you!
William F. Dankenbring
Was Christ nailed to a cross? The vast majority of Christians believe that He was. Traditon suggests that a “cross” composed of two pieces of timber were used to crucify the Messiah. But is there really any real evidence to support this traditional belief?
The New Testament uses the
words stauros ("stake") and stauroo ("crucify") 74 times.
However, in five places it uses the word xylon,
meaning "tree" (Acts
Says the Companion Bible, by Bullinger, “The word stauros . . . denotes an upright pale or stake, to which the criminals were nailed for execution” (appendix 162, page 186). “The word xulon . . . denotes a piece of a dead log of wood, or timber, for fuel or for any other purpose.” “The verb stauroo means to drive stakes.”
Bullinger goes on, “Our English word ‘cross’ is the translation of the Latin cruz; but the Greek stauros no more means a cruz than the word ‘stick’ means a ‘crutch.’ Homer uses the word stauros of an ordinary pole or stake, or a single piece of timber. And this is the meaning and usage of the word throughout the Greek classics.
“It never means two pieces of
timber placed across one another at any angle, but always of one piece
alone. Hence the usage of the word xulon in connection with the manner of our
Lord’s death and rendered ‘tree’ in Acts
Bullinger points out that the symbol of crosses “were used as symbols of the Babylonian sun-god,” and a cross with four equal arms, vertical and horizontal, was “especially venerated as the ‘Solar Wheel.’” He goes on:
“The Catacombs in
Concludes Bullinger, “The evidence is thus complete, that the Lord was put to death upon an UPRIGHT STAKE, and not on two pieces of timber placed at any angle.”
Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words provides telling insight into the “cross.” It declares:
“stauros
denotes primarily, ‘an upright pale or stake.’ On such malefactors were nailed
for execution. Both the
noun and the verb stauroo, ‘to fasten to a stake or pale,’
are originally to be DISTINGUISHED FROM the ecclesiastical form of a two
beamed ‘cross.’ The shape of the latter
had its origin in ancient
Standard Roman practice was to use a stake for crucifixion. However, in later Roman times a cross-bar was sometimes added. Says Unger's Bible Dictionary, on the cross:
"The cross which was used as an instrument of death was either a plain
vertical stake to which the victim was fastened, with the hands tied or
nailed above the head, or such a stake provided with a crossbar, to which
the victim was fastened with the arms outstretched" (p.227).
Says the New Bible Dictionary:
"Apart from the single upright post (crux
simplex ) on which the victim
was tied or
impaled, there were three types of crosses. The crux commissa
(St. Anthony's cross) was shaped like a capital T, thought by some to be
derived from. . . the letter tau; the crux decussata (St. Andrew's cross)
was shaped like the letter X; the crux immissa was the familiar two beams
. . ." (p.279).
Some have suggested that
Christ was literally nailed to a living tree, but the evidence to support this
idea consists mostly of speculation and circumstantial facts which are not
completely convincing. In Old Testament times, execution in
When we look at the evidence, it becomes obvious that the implement of execution used by the Romans to slay the Messiah was the stauros, or upright stake, just as the Bible states in most passages. There was no cross-piece or second beam or timber. Christ’s hands were nailed to the beam over His head, contrary to the traditional depiction on crucifixes or in motion pictures.
However, Pilate had an
inscription which was “set up over his head” – at the top of the beam or stake
– which stated, “This Is Jesus the King of the Jews” (Matt.27:37). Mark’s account says the inscription read,
“The King of the Jews” (Mark
Clearly, the crucifixion occurred on a “stake” or “beam” of timber. But the inscription, written on a separate piece of wood, in three languages, was like a SIGN OR TITLE placed over His head, or at the top of the beam, most likely. It probably had three lines, one in each language. This was not a “cross-beam,” therefore, but a flat piece of wood, like a plank, with the given inscriptions. If we add up all the words used by the apostles, this complete inscription read: "This Is Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews" (see Matt.27:37, Mark 15:26, Lk.23:38, John 19:19). The exact words may be understood by putting together all the gospel accounts, as different authors emphasized key words rather than the whole phrase. Or, since this inscription was written in three languages – Hebrew or Aramaic, Greek, and Latin – the exact words may have varied between the translations somewhat.
Since Jesus was clearly NOT nailed to a “cross,” as tradition suggests, where did the idea of a “cross” being the implement of crucifixion come from? Why so even professing “Christians” today venerate the “cross”? Here is the shocking, dumfounding truth!
"That the cross was widely known in pre-Christian times as an emblem
has been clearly shown by independent investigators. Indeed. it was a
well-known HEATHEN SIGN. The vestments of the priests of HORUS.
the Egyptian god of
light. are marked +. At
kings. royal cows are represented plowing. a calf playing in front. Each
animal has an + marked in several places on it. Rassam found buildings
at
Ammon. had for a monogram an +. The cross is found marked on
Phonecian monuments at an early date" (p.227).
In his fascinating historical book The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop tells us a great deal about the history of the "cross." Notice what he says about this ancient object of worship:
"There is yet one more symbol of the Romish worship to be noticed,
and that is the sign of the cross. In the Papal system. as is well known,
the sign of the CROSS and the image of the CROSS are all in all. No
prayer can be said. no worship engaged in. no step almost can be taken.
without the frequent use
of the sign of the cross. The cross is looked
upon as the
GRAND CHARM, as the GREAT REFUGE in every season
of danger, in every hour of temptation as the infallible preservation from
all the powers of darkness. The cross is adored with all the homage due
ONLY TO THE MOST HIGH; and for any to call it. in the hearing of a
genuine Romanist, by the Scriptural term 'the accursed tree' is a mortal
offence. To say that such superstitious feeling for the sign of the cross.
such worship as
grew out of a saying of Paul, 'God forbid that I should glory, save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ' --that is, in the doctrine of Christ cruci-
fied -- is a mere absurdity, a shallow subterfuge and pretense. The magic
virtues attributed to the so-called sign of the cross, the worship bestowed
on it, never came from
such a source. THE SAME SIGN OF THE
CROSS that
MYSTERIES. was applied by PAGANISM to the same magic purposes.
was honored
with the same honors. THAT WHICH IS NOW CALLED
THE CHRISTIAN CROSS W AS ORIGINALLY NO CHRISTIAN
EMBLEM AT ALL" (The Two Babylons, p.197).
Notice! The cross that is so
adored by Joseph Tkach, and others, dates back to
ancient pagan worship --the "mystery religions" stemming out of
ancient
As David Whitaker points out in his article, "The Mark of the Beast and the Christian. Cross," the pagan/so-called Christian "cross" is a perversion of the mystic "Tau," the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The "Christian" cross has no direct connection with the "Tau," which was in the form of a capital "T" in English, but puts the cross-beam down the stem of the letter, as a small "t" shape. The Jews refer to it as cherev, or the "sword." It is a ancient pagan phallic symbol of the male penis, a symbol of pagan sex worship and the abominable rites of Baalism and the pagan temple prostitution carried out in worship of Astarte ("Easter") !
The major "crosses"
of history, such as the Latin, Greek, and Maltese crosses, all have the
cross-bar in the middle or upper part of the upright pole. The archaeologist Layard found the Maltese cross as a sacred symbol in
ancient
The pagan cross was worn suspended from the necklaces of the Vestal virgins of Pagan Rome, even as Roman Catholic nuns wear it now, seemingly in imitation of their predecessors. The pagan Egyptians did the very same thing. Wilkinson, who studied the ancient Egyptians and nations of Africa, found that the people of many tribes "frequently had a small cross suspended to a necklace, or to the collar of their dress. . . showing that it was already in use as EARLY AS THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY BEFORE THE CHRISTIAN ERA" (Wilkinson's Egyptians, vol. L, p.376).
Says Alexander Hislop, in Two Babylons, regarding the early history of the "cross," and its widespread use as a religious symbol in antiquity:
"There is hardly a Pagan tribe where the cross has not been found.
The cross was worshiped by the Pagan Celts long before the incarna-
tion
and death of Christ. ...It was worshiped in
before the Roman Catholic missionaries set foot there, large stone
crosses being erected, probably to the 'god of rain.' The cross thus
widely worshiped, or regarded as a sacred emblem, was the unequivocal
SYMBOL OF BACCHUS, THE BABYLONIAN MESSIAH, for he
was represented with a head-band COVERED WITH CROSSES. . .
This symbol of the Babylonian god is reverenced at this day in all the
wide wastes of Tartary, where Buddhism prevails, and the way in which
it is represented among them forms a striking commentary on the language
applied by
The cross was anciently used
by the Chinese on their pagodas, painted on lanterns to illuminate the recesses
of their sacred temples. In
In 46 B.C., Roman coins depict
the god Jupiter or Zeus as holding a long sceptre
which ended in a cross. This was the symbol of Jupiter, the chief of the
gods. In ancient
Monuments show that ancient Assyrian kings wore a cross suspended on a
necklace or attached to their collar. Of course, their descendants, the modern
Germans, are identified with the famous "German cross," and the Nazis
in the Third Reich used the Swastika –a form of the cross -- as their
symbol of power and might!
William H. Prescott, in The Conquest of Mexico, describes the
wonder and amazement of the Spanish Catholic priests and missionaries when they
encountered the "cross" as an emblem of worship among the Aztec
Indians! This noted historian writes:
"Yet
we should have charity for the missionaries who first landed in
this world of
wonders; where. . . they were astonished by occasional
glimpses of rites
and ceremonies. . . In their amazement. . . They did
not inquire,
whether the SAME THINGS WERE NOT PRACTICED
BY OTHER IDOLATROUS PEOPLE. They could not suppress their
wonder, as
they behold the Cross, the sacred emblem of their own faith,
raised as an
OBJECT OF WORSHIP in the
met with it
in various places; and the IMAGE OF A CROSS may be
seen at this
day, sculpted in bas-relief,
on the walls of one of the buildings
of
held up to it, as
if in adoration" (p.695).
In
The early Mexicans worshiped the cross as "our Father," or
"Tota." The Scriptures condemn the practice
of addressing a piece of wood, or a "stock," as "Our
father." God says through Jeremiah, the prophet, "As the thief is
ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings,
their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, saying TO A STOCK [Hebrew
ets, meaning "stick, wood, timber,
stake, post, log], Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me
forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face"
(Jer.2:26-27).
Is this
prophecy and condemnation of a pagan custom or rite, which had crept in amongst
the people of
Jeremiah
10 also speaks of this pagan custom. Notice! God Almighty declares, concerning
the customs and practices of the. heathen nations
around
"Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not
dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
For the CUSTOMS of the people are V AIN: for one cutteth a tree out
of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They
deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with
hammers, that it move not. They are UPRIGHT AS THE PALM TREE,
but speak not: they
must needs be BORNE, because they cannot go. Be
not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do
good. . . But they are
altogether BRUTISH AND FOOLISH: THE
STOCK IS A DOCTRINE OF VANITIES" (Jer.l0:2-8).
We have often referred to this passage of Scripture in the past to refer to the pagan custom of the Christmas “tree,” which pagans used to deck with silver and gold, and place in their homes every year at the winter solstice. However, this passage could also refer just as easily to the pagan CROSS, the "STOCK," made out of WOOD, and "carried about" by pagan priests at the head of pilgrimages, parades, and processions.
Notice the similarity! Jeremiah clearly is speaking of an object made of wood, which is often adorned, and carried about in processions. Normally, decorated trees are put in one place and left there for the duration of the holidays. However, the pagan objects which are carried about in processions were WOODEN CROSSES! Roman Catholic priests still do this ancient custom, today! Says Unger's Bible Dictionary, "It was only after superstition took the place of true spiritual devotion that the figure of the cross was used or borne about as a sacred charm" (p.227).
Clearly, the "cross" so adored by Joseph W. Tkach, of the Worldwide Church of God, “mainstream Christian churches, and the Roman Catholic Church, is PAGAN through and through! It is the veritable SIGN OF BABYLON!
As an instrument of death, of crucifixion, the cross is also very ancient-- and very pagan. In The Cross in Tradition, History and Art, we read:
"The cross was used in ancient times as a punishment for flagrant crimes
in
tion ascribes the invention of the punishment of the cross to a WOMAN,
THE QUEEN SEMIRAMIS" (p.64).
How did this ancient PAGAN symbol creep into and become a part of the established Christian Church? How did it become a part of mainstream Catholic and Protestant religious orthodoxy?
Wilkinson points out how the early Christians in
“A still more curious fact may be mentioned respecting this hieroglyphical
character [the Tau], that the EARLY CHRISTIANS OF EGYPT ADOPTED
IT IN LIEU OF [INSTEAD
OF] THE CROSS, which was afterwards sub-
stituted for it, prefixing it to inscriptions in the same manner as the CROSS
IN lATER TIMES” (Wilkinson, vol.5, p.283-284).
Says Ralph Woodrow in Babylon Mystery Religion, about the cross:
"It was not until Christianity began to be PAGANIZED that the cross came
to be thought of as a Christian symbol. It was in 431 A.D. that crosses in
churches and chambers were introduced, while the use of crosses on steeples
did not come until about 586 A.D. In the 6th Century, the crucifix image
was introduced and its worship sanctioned by the church of Rome. It was
not until the second
council at
possess a cross. Such use of the cross then was obviously not a doctrine of
the early true church. It was not a part of the faith that was once delivered
to the saints" (p.50).
Both Hislop
and Woodrow point out that the ancient cross was associated with the worship of
the pagan Saviour Tammuz, whose death was lamented in
the spring by many ancient nations -- a practice which God condemns in His Word
(Ezekiel 8: 13-14). Sadly, Woodrow has
since he wrote those words, returned to nominal “Christian” practices and
teachings, and no longer thinks the pagan origin of these things is meaningful
or important. But what he wrote in
the preceeding paragraph is the TRUTH!
The so-called "Christian cross," then, is PAGAN TO THE CORE! As true worshippers of Jesus Christ, we should have nothing whatever to do with this vile symbol. We should repudiate it, abhor it, and put it far away from us !
Just because Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was hung and crucified on a stake, or stauros, in no means suggests that we should venerate or worship the implement of His torture and death! How obscene! How despicable a thought! How blasphemous and iniquitous! How cleverly Satan the devil is to get people to focus their attention on the pagan cross, calling it "Christian," instead of focussing their attention on Christ Jesus, the Saviour Himself!
If Jesus Christ, the Messiah, were killed by a bullet, would you carry a bullet around, to worship, venerate, and continually strive to "Remember the bullet"? If He had been killed by a shot-gun blast, would you carry around a shotgun shell? How ridiculous! Even so, a true Christian has no business carrying around or identifying with the "cross," a pagan relic, or to believe in the superstition of the "power" or good luck charm of the cross !
Remember the Cross?
Regardless of these matters,
however, in the May 1993 "Plain Truth" magazine, Joseph Tkach in his "Personal" claims repeatedly that
the "Christian Battle Cry" is and ought to be the phrase, "Remember
the cross!" By analogy, he cites the Texans who died at the
Says Tkach in his editorial:
"For the Christian 'army " however, there is only one battle cry, one
fundamental reference point providing the courage, strength and morale
to endure to the end in the good fight of faith. That battle cry is:
Remember the cross!"
Tkach continues, in this vein:
"The cross of Christ, therefore, becomes the central reference point for
every Christian. ...the unparalleled reality of all that the cross symbol-
izes equips us with the power of God through Jesus Christ --the power
that enables us to walk in the steps of Jesus, who gave himself for us.
"With the CROSS OF CHRIST as the central reference point of our
lives, we can 'live a life of love. . .'
"When you need spiritual strength to carry on, remember the proof positive
of God's unsearchable love -- THE CROSS of Jesus Christ. ...
"In simpler terms, if you're having trouble
forgiving your spouse, remember
the cross. If you're struggling with sexual sins, remember the cross. If you're
involved in dishonest business tactics, REMEMBER THE CROSS! " (May
1993 "Plain Truth," p.1, emphasis mine mostly).
Why the sudden and emotional attachment to the "cross," the emblem of Christ's sufferings and death, on the part of the leadership of the Worldwide Church of God? This distinctive "about-face" in theology to the embracing of the "Christian cross" and commandment to "remember the cross" itself, whenever troubles come, or whenever sins overpower you or threaten you, instead of emphasis on thinking on CHRIST HIMSELF, AND KEEPING OUR EYES FIGURATIVELY ON HIM, smacks of traditional Catholic doctrine and "cross worship" !
Nowhere in the New Testament do the apostles ever tell us, "Remember the cross!" The apostle Paul himself says rather we should be "Looking unto JESUS, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the SHAME, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For CONSIDER HIM [not the "cross"!] that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" Hebrews 12:2-3).
To remember the CROSS,
and to think on it, instead of Christ -- is nothing less than the worship of
the lifeless item itself -- in other words, NOTHING LESS THAN MODERN
IDOLATRY!
What Must We Remember?
In the first and second commandments, Almighty God commands, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee ANY GRAVEN IMAGE, or any LIKENESS OF ANY THING that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not BOW DOWN thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me . . ." (Exodus 20:3-5).
Notice! God condemns the
creation of any "graven image" of "anything" as an item of
WORSHIP! To use the cross, therefore, as an item of worship, to loving finger
it, hold it, to use it in worship, to spend time thinking of it INSTEAD OF
JESUS CHRIST OR GOD ALMIGHTY HIMSELF, is an act of blatant IDOLATRY and a
clear breaking of the commandments of GOD!
Rather than remember a lifeless object like the "cross," which has no power at all to deliver anybody from anything, but is an act of IDOLATRY, God tells us in His Word the things we should REALLY "remember," and keep in our minds! Notice! God says,
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt
love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this
day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto
thy children, and shalt talk of THEM when thou sit test in thine house,
and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when
thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a SIGN upon thine hand,
and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write
them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates" (Deut.6:4-9).
God commands us to "REMEMBER all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a WHORING: that ye REMEMBER, and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God" (Numbers 15:39-40).
Instead of "remember the cross," which is a form of idolatry, God commands us to "REMEMBER ALL THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD"! God also commands us to remember how He delivered our ancestors out of Egypt, the first Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, and how He intervened and rescued and provided for our forefathers in the wilderness (Exodus Exo.13:3; Deut.5:15; 7:18; 8:2).
God warns us not to forget these things -- they are crucial to our salvation and overcoming!
In the book of Deuteronomy, God thunders in warning to each and every one of us --
"And thou shalt REMEMBER the way which the LORD thy God led
thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee,
to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his command-
ments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed
thee with manna. . . that he might make thee know that man doth not live
by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the
LORD doth man live" (Deut.8:2-3).
"But thou shalt REMEMBER the LORD thy God: for it is he that
giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant. . ."
(Deut.8:18).
The prophet Malachi, in the last book of the Old Testament, also tells us what we should remember -- and it most certainly is NOT the "cross"! God says through this prophet, “REMEMBER YE THE LAW of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the STATUTES AND JUDGEMENTS” (Malachi 4:4).
The central theme throughout the Bible of what we are to remember, and keep in mind, is the LAW OF GOD, and GOD HIMSELF and what He has done for us! Nowhere does God tell us to "remember the cross." That is a pagan, heathen idea that has somehow wormed its way into the professing worldwide "Christian" church, including now the Worldwide Church of God!
When the apostle Paul, in the New Testament, tells us what to "remember," he says, further,
"REMEMBER THAT JESUS CHRIST of the seed of David was RAISED
FROM THE DEAD according to my gospel" (II Tim.2:8).
We should also, therefore, REMEMBER CHRIST, and what He accomplished for us, paying the penalty for our sins, and remember that He now sits at the right hand of God in heaven, as our eternal High Priest who ever lives to make intercession for us! (Hebrew 4:14-16; Heb.7:24-25).
But the cross, on the other hand, has a distinctly pagan origin and history, and certainly is NOTHING that a true Christian and servant of the living God would want to be associated with, love, adore, worship, remember, or keep in mind, as an object! It is an IDOL! It is an object of SHAME, derision, and horror --not something we are to focus our attention on, or "remember" in times of crises, trial, or trouble! In the New Testament, the cross is nowhere regarded as an instrument or emblem of worship or adoration, nor does it have any power in itself to do good or evil. Theologically, the word stauros, "stake," or "cross," simply was used on occasion as a summary description of the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and salvation, made possible by Jesus' death on the stake for us and for all mankind. We don't focus on human words of wisdom, "lest the cross [stauros] of Christ should be made of none effect" (I Cor.1:17).
When Paul speaks of "the
preaching of the cross" (verse 18), he is referring to the preaching of
the entire Gospel, summarized by the "stake," as it is central to the
theme of salvation, Christ's death being pivotal in the process. When Paul
preached the "cross," he explained what he meant: "But we preach
Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks
foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God, and the wisdom of God" (I Cor.1:23-24).
It was in this vein, then, that Paul told the
Galatians, after rebuking them for being led astray by false teachers, who
taught that they must earn their salvation through human works of righteousness,
"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross [stauros] of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world
is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Galatians 6:14).
“Saved
By His LIFE”
Salvation can only come to us through the
death of Jesus Christ on the cross, or stake, in payment for our sins. There is
no other way. There is no other means of entrance into the Kingdom of God for
any of us! Certainly, therefore, in that sense, the "stake" or stauros,
is a vital key to our salvation! However, it is the beginning point -- not
the ending point! As Paul wrote to the Romans, "Much more then, being now
justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the
death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved BY HIS
LIFE" (Romans 5:9-10).
Christ died for our sins; but now He lives at
the right hand of God, to intercede for us, and He sends the Holy Spirit to
dwell in us and to empower us to keep the commandments of God (Rom.8:1-2;
Heb.7:24; 4:16). Therefore the apostle Paul could say, "I am crucified
with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ LIVETH IN me: and the
life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave himself for me" (Gal.2:20).
Our emphasis, therefore, should be ON CHRIST
HIMSELF, and what He DID and still DOES for us -- and not on the physical sign
of the "cross" itself! Let us not remember or focus on the cross
itself, the object of shame and contempt (Hebrew 12:2), which Christ endured
for us, but let us focus our minds and hearts on and remember CHRIST, who
is "the author and finisher of our faith" (Heb.12:2).
Let us have nothing whatsoever to do with
PAGAN customs!
May God help us all to "earnestly
contend for the faith which was ONCE delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3).